Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Inkheart is a book full of books and bibliophiles, replete with living manuscripts, a legendary bookbinder, a forgotten author thought dead, a slowly visualized grumpy book amasser, and most originally, characters, misplaced in the universe. Underpinning all this decadence is Meggie, a motherless 12-year-old who adores her father and almost loses him when Dustfinger, a fire-thrower, shoulder further decorated with a devils-horned pet marten, appears in her front yard in a rainstorm. Her father has the legacy of being the best oral reader of tales and slowly it is revealed what havoc he has caused by his rare talent.
This would work as a hook--to read the first chapter to 5th or 6th graders, perhaps, but mostly I reccommend it as a fabulous read for librarians and for those who are enchanted by books.
More Cornelia Funke posts to come...she has been named on the 100 most influencial people of the world?? Well, something like that.
I enjoy her craft, like I enjoy Nabokov. She uses amazing, visceral words, like slunk....
This would work as a hook--to read the first chapter to 5th or 6th graders, perhaps, but mostly I reccommend it as a fabulous read for librarians and for those who are enchanted by books.
More Cornelia Funke posts to come...she has been named on the 100 most influencial people of the world?? Well, something like that.
I enjoy her craft, like I enjoy Nabokov. She uses amazing, visceral words, like slunk....
posted by booksRULE at 9:03 AM
6 Comments:
Great to see a new post!
I know my kids like checking out Inkheart because it is a very nicely designed book. I should check it out myself.
I didn't like Inkheart. ...although I didn't finish it--I thought the book-love was contrived.
...BUT the upper elementary students in my school *love* it... and I DO love that boys love it....
what do you recommend to kids who loved ink-heart/spell?
I'm sadly lacking....
[I WILL finish it.... because I HAVE to. ...I know.]
You thought the book love was contrived, huh? I thought it was pretty honest, myself. The book collector as being a collector, and the book binder as being a bit of a procrastinator and a liar. I think also that kids hide behind books, or at least I did when I was growing up. It seems now that we are teaching kids the social aspect of reading, luckily, but I didn't get that, so Meggie was a pretty credible character. Perhaps you have a point, but her characters, especially Dustfinger, have such an allure, and not easily pigeon-holed.
TO be honest, I will have to think about what books to recommend to those kids, because I unluckily don't have any kids I can even recommend it to. It is a bit lonely at my library when you get to the true chapter books. Not many of my fifth graders do them, sadly, but I have a feeling that will change as soon as I get off my butt and start pushing them towards harder stuff. Right now they gravitate to any skinny spine they spot. I am going to order Mary Pope Osborne's Oddysey and Iliad stories. I also love to recommend The Cay by Theodore Taylor and The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell. I will write reviews for those if you like, or maybe you know them...all seafaring adventure stories. That is all I read for a while. That is another post.
I NEED to read inkheart--and make myself finish it. really. I know.
and about the "contrived"--that's slightly the wrong word. ...maybe "cloying" is closer?...haha.
However, I must say, I'm more convinced (between you and the PILES of kids (not-eager-readers, even) who l-o-v-e it, that I will too if I re-enter it in a better frame of mind.
as for book suggestions--someone suggested Margaret Mahy's Changeover to me--for inkheartspell lovers... So I'll be checking that out. ...and adding it to the library if I think the school would go for it. [my problem with discovering great titles (even if old) is that we don't usually have them on hand... so readers' advisory programs are sometimes frustrating... ["I bet you'd LOVE 'BookX'...unfortunately we don't have it..."]
the big-plus-side to my school-setting is that they're eager to develop/improve the library--I feel lucky for that.
in a broader way on my own, I've been trying to remember titles that can loosely fit under this sort of heading, that we might have on hand.
I've successfully pushed Wrinkle in Time. (and I felt really brilliant and self-congratulatory for that one...which really just reveals my desperation to spend more time in reader-advisory mode with kdis I guess.)
about reading levels though... have you tried Stink--the Incredibly Shrinking Kid? (Megan McDonald) ...this is a little off-topic, because it has nothing to do with fantasy. BUT has everything to do with me reading a chpater the other day 1st-3rd graders, and finding them rolling on the floor laughing. (...I can see why comedians go into the business--it was SO rewarding to read something and have a responsive audience.) ...anyway--The layout of this book is great. and simpler even than the judy moody series. big print--small pages--great illustrations disperesed--and also neat comic renditions of the chapters at the close of each ...I've had kids signing up on a wait list for stink. [and I've been treading water trying to think of what we might have that's similiar in the meantime.] so that's just an aside to say stink might make you happy...
I'm taking the rest that's in my head for you to email!...
I just checked out Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid from BPL. That will be my next post so you have to write comments or beat me to it! I checked it out in my efforts to put a 3rd-5th grade order together and am glad to hear that it is funny. A lot of kids like funny books...
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